The present discussion includes background that might be helpful to understanding the present invention, but may not constitute prior art.
Sensors represent devices that are used to collect data about the environment, and accordingly may be used in numerous everyday objects. In various aspects, sensors may be of various types including electronic devices, electromechanical devices, electro-optical devices, and the like. Moreover, advances in micromachinery and microcontroller platforms has led to the increase use of sensors in determining a variety of environmental variables including temperature, pressure, and flow.
Pressure sensitive sensors have a wide range of applications in industry, sports, and medicine primarily due to their ease of use, relatively simple construction, and direct input-to-output sensing mechanism. Current construction primarily focuses on force sensitive resistors (FSRs), where a material's resistance changes as a function of applied force. Other methods include capacitive/inductive touch, strain resistance, infrared and optical methods, to name a few. However, FSRs have become the preferred sensing modality because construction is relatively cheap, easy, and industrially accessible; however, the largest constraint for sports and health-care application is designing custom and tunable form-factors that can fit into complex geometries and shapes. More so, pressure sensitive sensors need to tolerate excessive use if designed for the human body, and more so, comfortably fit into a user's clothing or seamlessly contact the skin without causing pain, discomfort, or unnecessary disturbances.
It is against this background that the present invention was developed.